308. Branches and Fruit
Ezekiel 36: 8 But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come.
The mountain of Israel is the Church, all the believers in Christ. This promise is for us. We shall shoot forth branches and yield fruit for the people of God. The Church bears fruit for each other in the Church, not to mention the fruit bearing that goes on for unbelievers to enjoy as well. In other words, Christians will be a blessing to others, especially to those of the household of faith.
This is an unconditional promise: you will shoot branches and grow fruit. Jesus picks up this promise and makes it semi-conditional in John 15: “I am the Vine and you are the Branches. If you abide in Me, then you shall bear much fruit.” The condition is “abiding,” or believing, in Jesus. Remaining in the faith of Jesus “automatically” produces fruit. And this is the purpose of life: to bear fruit. The “if” of Jesus’ words assumes the believer believes and keeps on believing. This is the work of the human being: not to try to bear fruit, but to abide in the Vine. We will just be branches stuck on Jesus, and the fruit will come. We don’t make it happen, for branches by themselves can do nothing unless they are connected to the root and trunk.
It looks like we, the branches, are yielding fruit, but it really is the Holy Spirit living in us and directing us to do good works and yield fruit. It is called the fruit of the Spirit. Our responsibility is to simply keep on believing in Jesus. We are strengthened and encouraged and growing in the faith when we go to church and Bible study and hear the Gospel in a meaningful way. The Spirit produces the Branches (by baptism and conversion), and the Spirit yields the fruit during the life after conversion. We see how the work is all of God alone, and it is not at all of our own fleshly effort. The Gospel causes thanks and praise to spring up in our hearts, and it gives the power to walk into the good works God prepared beforehand.
Because we do not see the fruit-bearing action we are given this kind of promise so that we may believe more strongly in the Gospel, and not let go of Jesus. We hold on to the promise that “love, joy, peace, etc.” are the results of God’s promise through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And it is “at hand to come.” It came when Jesus came.